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 A HISTORY OF CORNWALL indebtedness to Mr. G. C. Bignell, Mr. H. Goss, Mr. J. H. Keys, Mr. C. G. Lamb, Mr. W. J. Lucas, and also to the late Mr. C. G. Barrett, and the late Mr. R. McLachlan for such encouragement, assistance, and advice as only the experienced can give, and without which many of the difficulties might have proved insuperable. APTERA In spite of their simplicity of structure and their abundance, the beautiful, active little insec popularly known as ' Spring-tails ' have been singularly neglected by entomologists generally. The difficulties in the way of their effective preservation, their minute size, and their remarkably unobtrusive habits are probably in great measure responsible for this unmerited neglect. Moisture and darkness seem to be necessities of life among the many, and their customary habitats are among damp leaves, under wood and stones, and the bark of decaying trees, by streams and ditches, and in one or two instances the surface of water in stagnant pools. Disused flowerpots stored away in a damp shady corner of the garden are a happy hunting-ground for the beginner. In Lord Avebury's monograph on the order, sixty-one British species are described. The Cornish species have been carefully examined by E. D. Marquand, who in the Transactions of the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society (new series), vol. i, gives a minute description of forty-eight species, one of which is new to the British Isles. The county species are as follows : Smynthurus viridis fuscus aureus niger Papirius fuscus ornatus nigromaculatus Orchesella cincta villosa Tomocerus longicornis plumbeus niger Templetonia crystallina Seira platani nigromaculata buskii Beckia argentea Lepidocyrtus curvicollis lignorum violaceus gibbulus purpureus Degeeria nivalis annulata lanuginosa nicoletii cincta Isotoma arborea viatica viridis aquatilis anglicana Isotoma grisea Achorutes dubius purpurescens murorum similatus, Nic. (new) Podura aquatica Tullbergii Lipura ambulans Burmeisteri fimetaria maritima Anoura muscorum Campodea staphylinus Lepisma saccharina Machilis polypoda maritima ORTHOPTERA Earwigs, Cockroaches, Grasshoppers, and Crickets With the exception of Dr. Cocks of Falmouth, none of the resident entomologists of the county have paid more than passing attention to this attractive order, and up to the present the literature consists of some notes by Cocks in the Report of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society for 1858 and a short paper by C. W. Dale, 'Orthoptera of West Cornwall,' in vol. iii of the Transactions of the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society (1890), together with sundry records scattered through various papers and journals. In Burr's valuable little work on the British Orthoptera there are many references to Cornwall formed on these published data. The following notes are based on the records of previous collectors, on the varied material brought in by the students of the Technical Schools during the past seven years, and on notes kindly supplied by fellow-entomologists. FORFICULARIA Earwigs Two specimens of that southern species, Anisolabis annulipes (Lucas), probably introduced by some calling vessel, were taken by W. Oliver not far from Falmouth Station in June, 1900. They both possessed nine abdominal segments, and were, therefore, presumably males. The lesser earwig (Labia minor, L.) is locally abundant in summer, flying round heaps of stable manure in the bright sunshine. In 1902 it was plentiful in a recently built stone hedge-bank near Newquay, and in 1 904 was common for a few days flying over the flowers in the Victoria Gardens, Truro. 1 66